Monday, May 02, 2011

Back, Safe, Home Again

(that's a quote from an old favorite picture book, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry)

Like the Pig family in our old favorite book, we are Back, Safe, Home Again. We had a nice trip out to Oklahoma to visit my father-in-law. It was a long drive in only 3 days on the way back, with non-stop rain the last day, but not too bad.

Today it was back to reality and back to work. I miss those long hours in the car with nothing to do but listen to audio books, look through magazines, take naps, and sing to favorite songs! We gave each of the kids a CD for Easter - The Script for Jamie and a Glee soundtrack for Craig - and we had a lot of fun listening to those, in addition to our old favorites. Back to e-mails and urgencies and long to-do lists today.

Although we were only camping 4 of the 10 days we were gone, it was wonderful to be back in our camper again. I love the togetherness of camping (see The Joy of Outdoors). With no TV, computers, or work waiting to be done, we just enjoy each others' company, sitting around a campfire, reading, and playing games. We stayed in one gorgeous state park in Tennessee, Cumberland Mountain SP, and enjoyed a nice walk along the lake and waterfall there. Our other nights were spent in more urban RV-park type campgrounds - not our usual thing but necessary this time to get all the way out there and back in only 10 days.

No movies last week (hence, no Movie Monday), but we did introduce my father-in-law to The Amazing Race and Glee. He really enjoyed Amazing Race and is going to start watching it on his own (which is great because he's all alone and really has nothing to do). At 85, he was a bit overwhelmed by the pace of Glee (and, I imagine, by some of its subject matter!), but he was a good sport and tried to follow all the plot lines.

In an odd twist of events, we arrived back home and had a message on our answering machine that Jamie won a cruise in a raffle he entered in a diner in Maryland! I called today and it does seem legit, but the cruise is a tough deal for us because he only won 1 free spot, and there are 4 of us, but the travel agent also offered us a free week at a 5-star resort instead! This would be a room for all four of us, so I think it might actually work out (of course, we still need to get to the resort). The boys are going totally crazy over this! Jamie sees this as proof that the lottery is a good investment (he gets really high grades in math but apparently needs more lessons in statistics!).

I almost forgot (which is a good sign) - I felt pretty good while we were away and continued my walks in Oklahoma. I guess the beta blockers and Immunovir are still working (more on Immunovir in another post). Jamie was just mediocre during the trip - he is still running very low on energy - though he managed to go back to school today and take his AP exam, so that's good.

So, getting back into the old routine and back to normal here. Hope you are all doing well and had a good Monday!

I just found your blog and you just mentioned my parents FAVORITE campground EVER! They have a group of friends from all over the United States that meet there twice a year for two weeks each time. Glad to know you experienced our SP! :)

Wow, what a coincidence! We drive through TN every year on our way to visit my husband's family in Oklahoma. We used to have friends in Memphis, so we often stop there (they've moved back to Delaware now), and we often stop at Panther Creek State Park in the eastern part of the state for an overnight. And, of course, we absolutely LOVE visiting the Smokies!

Welcome to my blog - hope to see you back again! It looks like we have a lot in common from your profile.

I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS or CFIDS) since March 2002. My 19-year old and 16-year old sons also have CFS, and my older son also has Lyme disease plus two other tick infections. This blog is about how our family is learning to live with chronic illness, with a focus on living and enjoying our lives in spite of these challenges.